upgrade to ssd now or later

[Synfalle]

Hi there, Im quite new to pc building. I'm at a crux lately.
I have currently a pre-built gaming pc by cyberpower with a HDD for over 7months now. My question is, is it better to add a SSD or should i just add another HDD, (and wait to have a SSD upgrade in a new build my own pc)

reason im asking is because i have read a couple of reviews about 'cloning' a ssd from hdd and there have been nightmare episodes where a SSD wont boot after cloning. I figured, wouldn't it better to hold off the ssd upgrade until i built a new pc from scratch so i don't have to clone?

thanks and apologies for the newbie questions

 

[elbert]

An SSD for sure. Here is one of the best priced reliable SSD's on the market.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Crucial - MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $97.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-28 12:43 EDT-0400

 

[parkour47]

You could simply leave your OS and basic programs on the HDD, then clean install any games and more demanding applications on the SSD.

I personally would never go back to using a HDD since upgrading my build a few years ago, but I did a clean install of everything.

 

[captaincharisma]

some motherboards mess up the boot order if you try to load an SSD with multiple drives connected especially when both drives have a bootable windows install on them.

 

[USAFRet]

Done correctly, a clone operation works. Usually.
The nightmares you read about are from people not doing it correctly.

How much total space is consumed on your existing drive?
What size SSD are you considering?

 

[MDXX]

I was in your boat once op. I bit the gun on a ssd and i would never look back. I would switch from a HDD to SDD in a heartbeat

 

[Synfalle]

My hdd atm has 300gb but i can shrink it to 120-150gb as im looking at the crucial mx300 275gb for the upgrade.

Ive done a lot of reading on the acronys software and its because of the nightmare stories thats has me second guessing the upgrade...

Any other ssd's to look at aside from crucial? Im thinking of a 128gb ssd but couldnt find a crucial one.
Oh and is acronys software the only software for the crucial ssds?

 

[USAFRet]

My hdd atm has 300gb but i can shrink it to 120-150gb as im looking at the crucial mx300 275gb for the upgrade.

Ive done a lot of reading on the acronys software and its because of the nightmare stories thats has me second guessing the upgrade...

Any other ssd's to look at aside from crucial? Im thinking of a 128gb ssd but couldnt find a crucial one.
Oh and is acronys software the only software for the crucial ssds?

1. Get a 250GB or larger SSD. You'll be grateful later on.
120GB is right on te edge of 'too small'.

2. For a successful clone operation, these steps:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe as necessary.
Delete the original boot partitions, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------

 

[Synfalle]

Done correctly, a clone operation works. Usually.
The nightmares you read about are from people not doing it correctly.

How much total space is consumed on your existing drive?
What size SSD are you considering?

Existing drive is about 300gb. I can bring that down to about 120-150 if i decide to go upgrade. I'm actually looking at the crucial mx300 275gb.
I've been doing a lot of readin on the acronys software and it's just those nightmare issues that has had me scared of cloning....

 

[Synfalle]

Sorry problem with posting -.-

Thanks for the.advice!

 

[captaincharisma]

Done correctly, a clone operation works. Usually.
The nightmares you read about are from people not doing it correctly.

How much total space is consumed on your existing drive?
What size SSD are you considering?

Existing drive is about 300gb. I can bring that down to about 120-150 if i decide to go upgrade. I'm actually looking at the crucial mx300 275gb.
I've been doing a lot of readin on the acronys software and it's just those nightmare issues that has had me scared of cloning....

the only way i would recommend going the cloning or imaging route is if you use an old version of windows like 7 or 8 because with all the updates those older version needs it will take a day to download and install them all. imaging the drive would work better since the drives do not have to have to have the same amount of memory then you would have to worry about with cloning

 

[USAFRet]

the only way i would recommend going the cloning or imaging route is if you use an old version of windows like 7 or 8 because with all the updates those older version needs it will take a day to download and install them all. imaging the drive would work better since the drives do not have to have to have the same amount of memory then you would have to worry about with cloning

Cloning does not automatically require the same size drive.
Macrium, for instance, takes only the actual used space. Drives can be different sizes.